Hi! This is my first Criminal Minds fanfiction, I love the show and I'v been reading fanfiction for it for a couple of months, but after JJ/AJ got axed, I got the idea for this. It's set during/after "Reflections of Desire."

Oh, and a big huge, uber ginormis thank you to flashpenguin who betaed this. She made this story so much better!

Jennifer Jareau walked the halls of her new job, scrutinizing her surroundings. Secretly she hated it. When she had first started nearly two months earlier, she had tried to like it, but now she knew she was fooling herself. The newness of the entire building, along with the fact that the building didn't house her old team - there were a million things about this job that she hated.

"Agent Jareau?"

JJ looked up from the paperwork she was delivering to face her new boss, Marcus Hill. "Yes sir?" she asked politely.

"We will be going out for drinks after work, if you would like to come with us," he replied.

"I actually need to be getting home to my son, but thank you for the offer," JJ declined, using Henry as an excuse. If this had been her old job, she would have accepted the offer in a second.

"It would be nice if you came and got to know the team a little better." Hill's reply came out more as a command than an invitation.

"I will have to respectfully decline again," JJ said, trying not to sound annoyed with a guy who had problems with the phrase 'no thank you'. "My Fiancé is on a business trip and my sitter can't watch Henry all night. Unless we go to a place that is child friendly I can't get drinks with you. Thank you again for the offer." JJ felt a twinge of guilt over the white lie. While Will was out of town on business, JJ's sitter would have been glad to watch Henry for an extra couple of hours.

"We'll have to schedule a day to go out with all our families so you can bring your son."

"That would be nice." JJ commented unenthusiastically. She held up the files in her hands. "I need to go finish delivering these; then I'll be leaving."

"Sure thing Agent Jareau." He left the moment her blackberry went off. Looking down, JJ frowned.

URGENT 911: JJ, I'M ABOUT TO GO ON NAT'L TV! TV! HELP! PG

Rushing to her office, JJ closed the door and made a quick phone call to her friend in distress
***

JJ waited for the comm-link hook up to Garcia when her eye caught sight of a picture of the team - her team - on her desk. It had been taken at their usual bar. They were all gathered around holding their drinks up in a mock salute; it had been taken right after Rossi had joined the team. Her heart began to beat painfully.

"Jayje? Are you there?" Garcia's frightened voice came over the blackberry. "I don't know what to do."

"Just relax. It will be okay."

"I'm about to go on. I'm blonde, a liaison, and in front of the media. And I'm about to throw up! Get me out of here!"

"Penelope, Hotch sent me the info on the case. I'm going to walk you through this. Just listen to everything I tell you. Walk slowly to the podium."

"Now what?" came the small whisper.

"Just smile Pen," JJ commanded to her friend. The TV was on in her office with the volume down, but JJ kept her eye on her frightened former colleague as she began her coaching. "Not too much. Read your notes…now look up…that's good. Take a breath. Don't reply too slowly. Too fast now…keep eye contact…nod…smile…"

A shadow fell across her doorway. JJ looked up. "Agent Jareau, I thought you were leaving." It was Hill again.

"Yes I am," JJ said. Speaking quickly into the phone, she whispered: "Pen, I have to go," then clicked the phone off. Turning back toward her supervisor, JJ squared her shoulders. "May I help you?"

Hill didn't move from his position in the doorway. "Actually if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you."

"What about?" JJ asked apprehensively. Even though she had worked side by side with profilers for six years, that didn't make her one and she knew her emotions had been more than evident as of late.

"You're not happy here, are you?" Hill's question held a touch of concern.

JJ sucked in a breath. Here it was a chance to really tell her boss how she felt about her job. "Would you like me to be honest?"

"I would welcome it." He straightened up to look her in the eye.

"I hate this job," JJ blurted out. Knowing that she was being rude, she quickly kept talking, hoping to explain her point of view well enough that he wouldn't fire her on the spot and make it impossible for her to get work elsewhere.

"I was forced to transfer here sir. I was offered this position several times and I respectfully turned it down each time. At the time, I thought it flattering that your department wanted me so badly. Now however, I have no idea why I was offered this job so many times. I know I'm supposed to be very qualified for this job but ever since I got here, I've been treated like I don't know how to be a media liaison. I've been a liaison for over six years; I think I know how to do my job. Yes, the BAU was smaller, but it was basically the same thing only with different people."

Hill looked surprised at JJ's bluntness but didn't say anything; JJ took this as an invitation to keep speaking.

"Yes, this job is technically a better job with better pay and fewer hours, but the way you've been treating me and the work you've been giving me is…insulting. You know what I did today? I made copies and passed out files - the secretary downstairs could do that." She picked up the TV remote on the side of her desk and turned the volume up on the TV.

"My team, which, before my transfer was already overworked and underpaid now have another job added to their already stressful and taxing job descriptions because we- they," she corrected herself, "don't have the budget to hire another person to do my job."

"Penelope is good with computers but this," JJ pointed to the screen where Garcia's voice filled the air, "is not her." Glancing at the TV she did a slight double take when she saw the now blonde hair on her friend. "And the reason that Garcia now has two jobs is because you forced me to transfer to a job that a very intelligent monkey could perform."

Marcus opened his mouth to say something, but JJ was on a roll and she wasn't about to stop. "I especially don't appreciate having my son used against me when you were trying to convince me to take this job willingly."

Sighing she looked at her new boss, and clicked the TV off. "Honestly sir, ever since I got here I've been treated like a child. I don't know if I will ever accept the offer of having drinks or getting together with all our families. I'd rather wait until my team gets back from whatever city they were working in and go get drinks with people who view me as an equal than with those who have treated me as I do my two year old."

There was silence for a long moment. JJ placed the remote back on her desk then turned toward the door.

"I have no wish to cut our conversation short, but I need to get to my son, apparently taking this job means I'll get to spend more time with him. As coldhearted as this may sound, I'm willing to give up being able to see him every day if I can help make the world he lives in a little safer, but I don't see how I'm doing that by making copies and passing out files. Now if you'll excuse me," JJ said.

Hill moved aside and JJ quickly left.

Rounding the corner at the end of the hallway, JJ stopped and pulled out her blackberry. Quickly she sent a text to Garcia. Almost immediately a response came back.

"You did a great job," she whispered as her fingers flew over the keys. "Guess you don't need me anymore." Her smile was sardonic as she waited for a reply. A quick beep made her look down. Her fingers flew again. "I love you too."

One more beep. Then her eyes filled up.

"I miss you guys more than you'll ever know," she choked but didn't text. Putting her blackberry in her purse, JJ walked down the hallway toward the elevators. The day was over; she was going home.

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